Chattahoochee Tech Students Learn Life Skills at Conference

Four Chattahoochee Technical College students brought home first-, second-, third- and fifth-place awards from the 2017 Georgia Phi Beta Lambda (PBL) State Leadership Conference, held April 7-9 in Atlanta.

Winners are David John of Woodstock, who placed first in Marketing Concepts and third in the team-based Marketing Analysis and Decision Making event, alongside Coty Jones and Malak Elgaydi, both of Acworth. In addition, Jones placed second and Elgaydi placed fifth in Entrepreneurial Concepts. Charity Ledford of Dallas placed third in Impromptu Speaking and fifth in Public Speaking.

“I’m not usually the type to get into too many extracurricular activities, but I ended up signing up for PBL on a whim,” John said, adding he learned about the organization through instructor and advisor Brian Moss.

John, who joined the CTC chapter of PBL this semester, said the events reflected what he has learned in his Marketing Management classes. He said he enjoyed the real-world aspects of the competition, such as working on a marketing team to develop a presentation using shared competencies such as advertising and promotion, marketing principles and research and public relations.

“It’s the hands-on experience and playing the part in a real business network that I enjoyed,” John said. “You’re really joining in on something you can’t get anywhere else.”

Pictured, from left, are students Coty Jones, Malak Elgaydi, Charity Ledford and David John.

“I think a unique opportunity that students got to experience was the relationships formed,” Greene said, adding that congratulations were shared and contact information was exchanged among competitors following the event. “Something else this conference allows our students to experience is the fact that technical colleges throughout the state of Georgia are in attendance, so it allows all students to get to know one another across the state.”

Planning to graduate this spring, John said he encourages students to reach out to the many resources offered at CTC and to take advantage of the opportunities available.

“The advisors and instructors in the marketing department are all really helpful,” John said. “It sounds cliché, but you can take it for granted and let it pass by.”